There has been a need for an inexpensive but fully practical device that may be worn by a plant or building guard or by a sportsman such as a hunter, a bicycle rider or a jogger to enable him to see behind him, not only for safety or protection purposes but also for a full concept of his surroundings.
Rear view mirrors have been used for trucks and automobiles and mirrors have been made adjustable, such as represented by U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,910,915 and 2,968,995, British Pat. No. 405,521 and French Pat. No. 657,303. U.S. Pat. No. 2,917,970 is of interest from the standpoint of a clip-on mirror device for attachment to the eyeglasses of a wearer. However, the only device to my knowledge at the present time that has been designed for attachment to a cap, hat or helmet is represented by U.S. Pat. No. 3,988,058. This device has been found to be relatively unstable in its operative usage. Further, it is only adapted for attachment either to the frame of a pair of eyeglasses or to the brim of a cap. In order to get a rear view perspective, it requires two so-called ball and socket joints which not only make it expensive, but have resulted in difficulty in attaining and of retention of a desired adjustment.
There is thus a need for a simple and inexpensive but practical safety or sports device which may be detachably secured to any part of a head covering, such as a cap or hat and principally, to the crown of a hat, for example, or to the brim or peak of a cap. In endeavoring to provide a suitable device for this purpose, I have eliminated the need for and the cost and other disadvantageous features inherent in the use of a pair of ball and socket joints. In this connection, I have provided a construction in which the connecting part between the mounting part and the mirror is easily and fully adjustable from the standpoint of its effective length and of a special construction such that it, in itself, may be employed to easily and quickly adjust the back viewing relation of the mirror part and enable a semi-rigid retention of a desired mirroradjusted position. The tendency of ball and socket joints to become loose and provide poor back position retention is eliminated. The connecting part of my device is able to withstand repeated deformations or adjustments as to its shape without failure and while retaining a suitable adjusted positioning.
It has thus been an object of the present invention to devise a new and improved hat or cap mounting rear view mirror device suitable for full back-viewing that will be inexpensive to produce, of simple construction, and fully practical in its operation.
Another object of the invention has been to devise a hat or cap type of rear view mirror device which will be adjustable from the standpoint of the supported length of a mirror carried thereby, and also that will be adjustable from the standpoint of any suitable back-view positioning of the mirror.
A further object of the invention has been to devise a connecting cable between the mounting and mirror parts of a back view mirror device that can be produced inexpensively and that will withstand repeated back viewing adjustments.
A still further object of the invention has been to provide a base mounting part that will enable the device to be securely and removably mounted on either a brim or a crown portion of a head covering.
These and other objects of the invention will appear to those skilled in the art from the hereinafter described and illustrated embodiment.